Wickham: Obama needs more blacks in Cabinet

Jan. 22, 2013
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President Obama meets with his Cabinet in November. / Pool photo

by DeWayne Wickham, USA TODAY

by DeWayne Wickham, USA TODAY

There can be little doubt that President Obama has done more for blacks -- his core constituency -- than any White House occupant since Lyndon Johnson.

His Affordable Care Act, the one his Republican critics labeled "ObamaCare," will dramatically increase the number of black families with health insurance. Obama's "Race to the Top" education initiative gives billions of dollars to states that come up with innovative education ideas for their flagging public schools -- funding that will enhance the prospects of black schoolchildren getting a high-quality education.

And in what is probably his most far-reaching action for blacks, Obama signed into law the Fair Sentencing Act, which sharply reduced from 100-1 to 18-1 the disparity between the minimum sentences doled out to people convicted of possessing crack and powder cocaine. Because crack is more widely used by blacks and powder cocaine is disproportionately favored by whites, the old sentencing guideline had a disparate racial impact -- one that Obama has come close to eliminating.

But as much as Obama has done for blacks -- mostly with laws that also make life in this country better for the rest of Americans -- there is more of substance that he should do. I say this out of respect and admiration for this nation's first black president.

I know he's not the president of black America. I've heard it said so many times, the words have become a ring tone that sounds whenever I begin talking to someone about what else he needs to do for blacks. Still, he has one failing that I urge him to correct.

The Cabinet that Obama assembled during his first presidential term is a throwback to those constructed by every president (with the exception of Richard Nixon) from Johnson to George H.W. Bush. Like them, he could find just one black person to fill a position in his Cabinet. When pressed as to why they had a near lily-white Cabinet, many of the post-civil rights era presidents offered up some version of this sad refrain: Race was not a factor. I picked the best qualified person for the job.

Implied in their answer is that among the tens of millions of blacks, they could find just one person who had the intelligence and experience to serve in their Cabinet. Bill Clinton broke that bad tradition. He named seven blacks to Cabinet posts. George W. Bush put four blacks in his Cabinet. Obama has just one: Attorney General Eric Holder.

Sure, the president can point to a large number of blacks in lesser positions throughout his administration -- some of them so-called Cabinet-level jobs. But coming on the heels of the Clinton and Bush presidencies, Obama's failure -- so far -- to appoint more than one black to his Cabinet is a troubling reversal.

A president's Cabinet is a breeding ground for political leaders (think Dick Cheney, Elizabeth Dole, Andrew Cuomo and Bill Richardson). Cabinet secretaries command vast areas of the federal government and can make decisions that affect, among other things, employment opportunities, enforcement of affirmative action laws, and funding for minorities' businesses and historically black colleges and universities.

Also, the 15 members of the president's Cabinet -- the real Cabinet -- are in the line of succession to the presidency, should some great disaster befall the nation.

In the coming months, as the expected turnover in his Cabinet occurs, Obama should show the nation -- and, most important, his black constituents -- that like Bush and Clinton, he too can find more than one qualified black to serve in his Cabinet.

DeWayne Wickham writes on Tuesdays for USA TODAY.

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